Why: With the Minnesota Legislature controlled by Republicans the possibility of the Interstate Licensure Compact passing is real this year because of their usual support of corporate interests. The Compact is supported by the Long-term Care Industry and other Health Care Corporations. Rep. Kim Norton (DFL-Rochester) is authoring the bill for members in her district including the Mayo Health System.

MNA STRONGLY opposes this controversial legislation because of the risks it poses to patient safety, our nursing practice, and to our union.

Given this threat, we need MNA Members and Staff to ATTEND THIS HEARING & MAKE CALLS TO KEY LEGISLATORS BELOW:

TELL LEGISLATORS TO OPPOSE THE COMPACT House File 462 FOR THE FOLLOWING REASONS:

Threats to Nursing Practice
The compact is a radical change in how we regulate nurse licensure in our state today. It would allow nurses to practice within our state without a MN license. This bill could result in a “race to the bottom” as nurses without the same licensure standards or requirements would be allowed to work side- by- side with MN nurses. We believe the regulation of Nurse Practice is a States’ Right Issue and this bill would give the NCNBS (National Council of State Boards of Nursing) control over Minnesota’s nursing practice without public accountability.

Threats to Patient Safety
No evidence exists that entering into an Interstate Compact improves patient safety. In fact, a recent investigation of 5 compact states by Propublica, an investigative journal, found four dozen examples of nurses who continued to work even though another compact state had barred them. Their licenses were suspended for a number of issues including ignoring patients’ needs, stealing medications, and missing crucial tests or changes in a patient’s condition. The Compact may actually multiply the risk to patients because the Compact impedes the state’s ability to ensure non-resident nurses fulfill the same qualifications for practice that are expected of resident nurses.

Threats to Our Union
The Compact also poses a threat to our union. It allows multistate corporations to move nurses across state lines under the regulatory radar. We believe the compact would cause potential disruption by out-of-state nurses on our contract negotiations and union action and that employer intimidation and discipline of nurses advocating for their patients could increase under the compact. Without a state licensure system, the thousands of nurses who crossed our picket lines this summer would not pay a licensure fee nor could they be easily tracked by our BON.

6 Responses to “URGENT: We Need Nurses on March 9th!”

Seems ironic that this critical issue touted by MNA as being pushed by Republican and those big corporations is being presented in a bill authored by a DFL legislator Kim Norton. Oops my bad, she probably is under the evil influence of the Mayo Health System. Why must MNA bring partisan politics into this? Can’t you just let this pass or fail on it’s own merits? What is in the best interest of the patients!